Thursday, November 5, 2009

Resource Roundup (November 09)

Here are some sites I've discovered recently that support parents and kids toward literacy, creativity and education generally.

Design Squad

PBS have done it again! There is a TV show called Design Squad, and this is the companion site. I love the great challenges for kids to solve , like "build a tower that can support a tennis ball at least 18 inches off the ground while withstanding the wind from a fan." The site provides a list of materials, as well as questions to help guide the process. There's lots for kids to read, as well as prompts to get them thinking creatively, or as the site says, "like engineers". This looks like a wonderful site for homeschooling parents looking for science projects that will enthuse kids. You can watch episodes of the show, access the projects, or find information about the activities for parents and educators. Read more about what PBS has to offer in my Plundering PBS post from September. (Thanks to Richard Byrne, Free Technology for Teachers, for the Design Squad link.)

At this site, there are two books to read, interact with and make changes to, The Journey to Darkest Somewhere, and The House of Scary Words. The site prompts kids to make changes to the text if they wish, and there are activities to complete inside the story such as matching homonyms, and finding small words inside larger ones. When you've read the book, you can elect to save it with your changes as a pdf, so you can read it later. There's also a pretty slick game, The Legula Adventure, which enables kids to read and listen, make choices and do word-related activities. If you want to save the progress of your game, you need to register.

Signed Stories

Here's a wonderful place to read stories online for those who are hearing-impaired, and those who are not. Kids can practise their reading by listening and following the subtitles, and there's sign language for kids who need it. Stories are themed, like Toddler, Funny, Adventure. Each one is a little video, some with the screen showing the illustration and text for the page, plus the person signing the text for that page, and the audio running concurrently. Here's one called Mr Majeika for you to try. Others, like Owl Babies, have the illustration animated. There's also some great advice on reading to kids.